FW3A, a TLF/BLF EDC flashlight - SST-20 available, coupon codes public

:+1: … :+1: … :+1: … Great idea, but we can only hope & dream this will happen. :wink:

Surely TK should have one of each LED choice, to fine-tune the ramping and thermal control for production firmware for each variant? If this is going to be done properly.

Reading between the lines, the metalwork has not yet been cut and finished, the driver PCB is undergoing a minor re-layout (so not yet made), at least one of the potential LED options has not yet been sourced, etc. So, personally, I’m not holding my breath.

That said, if it is a solid design, well production-engineered, and the operators trained up to put it together, test it, correct any faults, package it, etc. it should only take a day or so to build the first batch, once the pieces have been delivered from the subcontractors. And a production slot booked. PS: there are only 365 1/4 days in a year, of which 200 or so are usable in the West.

Unless it is all being done in-house, which would surprise me.

This is where the Q8 slipped up, but Thorfire/Sofirn quickly nipped that in the bud for batch 2, and beyond.

Then there are the logistics. From whom are we going to buy this ? That didn’t go too well with the GT, presumably there is a different plan for this one ?

This should all be standard stuff for a GB co-ordinator to manage. Do we have one here ?

Tom Tom, how is it that sometimes you want nothing to do with the group buy and then other times you act like you’re running it?

Can you please stop trying to help out? Let the people in charge do their thing. Please. Please. Thank you.

Hm, asked he for reels or single ones for a prototype?

I seem to have leveled out at the I can eat a raw habanero in 10 minutes and not die level. A guy I work with conditions himself by eating a whole raw scorpion or reaper a day, sliver by sliver. I just dont get it. I tried a sliver of reaper the size of my pinky nail and was hurting for a good 7-10 minutes.

On another note, glad to see the FW3A project gaining traction again. Just curious though, whats the risk of an electrical short with this battery tube/eswitch design? Might not be any, but im having a hard time visualizing it from the drawings.

José Luis Cano, Antenist, Electrician,

Oral communication.

Order one for me, HP-L Hi.

O.K.
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:open_mouth: . :open_mouth: . :open_mouth: . :open_mouth:
Some pretty hot reading……. :wink:

Those links are for specific quantities of cut tape. If Neal is asking about sourcing for the full project, Digikey offers better pricing for reels in increments of 800 emitters, for at least $0.41 USD cheaper per emitter than that link. That adds up quickly for a project I’m sure will be using several thousand emitters.

Here’s links for tape and reel.

4000K
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/samsung-semiconductor-inc/SPHWHTL3DA0GF4TPQ6/1510-2333-2-ND/7560666

5000K
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/samsung-semiconductor-inc/SPHWHTL3DA0GF4RTS6/1510-2335-2-ND/8536265

I’m sure an experienced buyer could negotiate a better price, assuming that they have a signed BOM and commitment for a substantial quantity.

Otherwise it just seems rather amateur.

The same goes for all the other parts.

@iamlucky13, I thought he only wanted samples, not a full reel.

If so, I’ll be including them in my original post.

The inner tube is only there there to pass the tail switch signal (normally open, signal is connect to ground) from the tail to the driver.

If it gets displaced, say at the driver end, it gets grounded. No hazard, (unless locked onto turbo) except it stops working.

Or perhaps open-circuit. Same difference.

Firmware could detect such a fault condition (grounded) and do the necessary. E.g. shut down.

Every time the cell is replaced/recharged this connection is re-made. So it has to be ultimately reliable. And the arrangement sturdy (not thin-walled pieces relying on delicate tolerances, particularly pressing against a few microns of plating on a driver PCB).

That’s as I understand it. I could be completely wrong, and look forward to seeing how it turns out. This is certainly not an obvious way to make such a thing. My interest is just to see how far this goes, and how well it eventually works.

If delivered successfully it will definitely be unique, and well worth the “investment”.

Crack on.

I wasn’t sure, so I figured I’d add the information to the thread.

Besides, who knows what other members might want 800 emitters. :sunglasses:

(Pretty sure RMM already has bought that many)

Received a New PM message in my email just now, Got so excited, thought it was for this. But was for another light I forgot about. Just read a couple pages back and looks like early next year maybe? :partying_face:

So unique Nitecore did it YEARS ago.
D10/ D11 / D11.2 / EX11 / EX11.2, the “PD” (Piston Drive) series.

Piston Drive, which I think was actually invented by McGizmo, is a different design. PD flashlights don’t have a switch in the tail at all, just the end of a piston that transmits mechanical force to a switch in the head.

The FW3A isn’t the first to use nested tubes to transmit an e-switch signal from the tail to the driver though. Several dual-tailswitch designs from Nitecore, Fenix, and Klarus do this. The Folomov 18650S also uses a tail e-switch, but I’m not sure if it has nested tubes or uses a different technique.

I find the FW3A compelling because it puts together a combination of features in a way that I expect to work really well for how I use an everyday carry flashlight, and does so at a very low price. It doesn’t need to be the first light with some feature in order to do that.

18650s has the entire driver at the tail, only components at the head are the LED and a bleed resistor.

Tomato, potato.

Thanks for that list Zak.Wilson!

TK, that needs hotlinks!

PS, how would our corporate overlords describe us?
Something like: http://crackedlabs.org/dl/CrackedLabs_Christl_CorporateSurveillance.pdf

Exactly. That’s the point of the FW3A. It may not do anything particularly new, but it puts together a lot of good older ideas into one nice package. It’s a well-rounded sort of design for practical use. That’s why I carry it around on a daily basis even though I have a hundred other lights to choose from.

[quote=ToyKeeper]

All of us can only dream about that…